my apologies to those of you still waiting for your phenotype inspections. there is a bit of a backlog, i’m afraid, due to the (frankly surprising!) large number of supplicants applicants wanting to join the dark enlightenment, and the…intricate…nature of the inspections. they do take tiiiiime.

while you’re waiting, you might want to amuse yourselves with this and this.

thank you for your patience and understanding. the line forms to the right.

“Diamond has studied traditional societies in Africa, Asia, South and North America and the Arctic, but most of his analysis comes from his observations of his old scientific stamping grounds in New Guinea, a process that has not been without its tribulations. Several years ago, Diamond met a tribesman called Daniel Wemp who said he had organised a clan war in New Guinea to avenge the death of an uncle….

“The issue of vengeance is central to Diamond’s book. In the west, when a person is robbed or injured in an attack, the state – in the form of the police – take responsibility for tracking and punishing the culprit. Traditional societies take a very different approach. Minor offences are normally settled by payment of compensation – the pig is the traditional currency in New Guinea – or by holding a feast to signal the re-establishment of friendly relations. For more serious offences, including murder, a family will seek to make alliances with others to help track down and kill their relative’s murderer. This usually triggers an identical response from the murdered murderer’s family and the process is repeated. The west’s depersonalised system of justice looks a lot better from this perspective.”